Dads Love Banff

Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival World Tour attracts crowds from all over the region each year. We pack the Byham with bustling excited groups of friends, families, and couples all looking for a sense of adventure on the big screen.  

For Christine and her father Norman, the film festival is a tradition. It’s a special time each year for quality father/daughter time. For the past seven years Christine packs up the car bringing along a niece, nephew, brother, or husband and makes the five-hour trip from Detroit to Pittsburgh. Even though Michigan has a screening of the World Tour, she loves the atmosphere of the Byham Theatre. (Thanks, Christine! We agree! 😉 ) 

Norman, as Christine describes her father, is the “biggest kid in the house!” She grew up not quite knowing what activities he would get the family into next. Not that he was disorganized; Norman had his family adventures planned out with spreadsheets and all!  

Over the years, Norman’s sense of adventure has only grown. Not even a year after Norman’s second heart bypass surgery, he took Christine and her niece on a week of adventures in Pittsburgh which included an hour at SkyZone. Yes, the big warehouse full of trampolines.

Norman didn’t sit back and watch. In fact, he joined the fun and was dubbed the “oldest participant” they ever had.

His doctor of course gave him a good scolding about it later.  

Part of the film festival’s appeal is the opportunity to see new places you’ve never been before. This year Christine is also excited to see places her father HAS seen. For Norman’s and his wife’s 50th anniversary they visited Banff, Alaska then took the Rocky Mountain Train through Canada.  

Dads like Norman love Banff because they love the outdoors and time spent with family. He takes his family to national parks and on Ohiopyle trips. He tandem bikes with his wife (although she refuses to tandem kayak with him).

And because of his love of the outdoors, his family loves it too.

And now Christine’s brother is passing that same love for the outdoors on to his own kids.